Fire protection apparatus



July 4, 1950 N. J. THOMPSON 2,513,975

FIRE PROTECTION APPARATUS Filed Feb. 2, 1946' 2 Sheets-Sheet 1' Fi i. 2.

y 1950 N. .LTHOMPSON 2,513,975

FIRE PROTECTION APPARATUS Fil ed" Feb. 2, 1946 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 I Jaye-Ilia?" 1&2 I J 712a .5070

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Patented July 4, 1950 U NITED S TAT ES FICE FIRE PROTECTION l ABPARATUS Norman J. Thompson, Newton; Massi, assignor to Factory Mutual ResearchiCorporation,Boston; Mass, a corporation of Massachusetts Application February 2, 1946, Serial No. 645,094

in a vertical or horizontal wall between adjacent rooms where the usual fire door or shutter is impracticable because of the necessity of accommo dating continuous conveyors or the like.

One object of the present invention is to provide a fire-protection apparatus which will ppose and repulse a fire tending to spread through such an opening and yet will in no way impede, obstruct or tend to interfere with the conveyance of articles through the opening. Further objects are to provide apparatus for attaining the aforesaid. fire protection which will use standard materials and conventional fluids, will be inexpensive, simple to manufacture and easy to install or change as new Openings become necessary. and old ones become obsolete with changing assembly lines or the like.

According to the present invention a current of spray substantially filling an opening in a wall between adjacent rooms is directed from the room to'be protected through the opening by nozzle means offset from the axis of the opening soas not to obstruct passage through the opening. and offset from the wall a substantial distance so as to create a strong draft through the opening to counter any tendency of a fire, in the other room, to produce a counter-draft through the: opening. In one embodiment of this invention the aforesaid nozzle means may comprise a plurality of nozzles distributed aroundthe axis of the opening and offset therefrom and from the wall. In further accordance with the present invention, the opening may besubstantially filled by-a current of sprayfromone'nozzle or the joint cooperation of a plurality of nozzles. In either case, the angle between the axis of each nozzle discharge and the plane of the wall should be at least 30 and preferably of the order of 45; otherwise'the apparatus does not work as efficiently to; create the strong draft through the opening.

For the purpose of illustration, embodiments oftheinvention are shown in the accompanying drawings in which Fig. 1 is a vertical section of one embodiment of: the invention;

Fig. 2 is a front face view of the embodiment of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a vertical section of a modification of the embodiment of Fig. 1.

Referring to Fig. 1, an opening I is defined by juxtaposed spaced edges 2 of a wall F, said wall separating a fire area A from a fire-threatened area B. A conveyor line 4 attached to the roof 4 Claims.- (Cl. 169-5) S-by depending supports 6 extends through the members I!) disposed parallel to and offset from the edges of the opening I and spaced from the wall F. Spray nozzles ll, preferably of the solid cone type, with a discharge in the form of a completely filled cone, are mounted on said branch members Hi, opposite each corner of the opening and offset from the axis of the opening, by means of fittings [2, each nozzle being spaced from the wall F and having its discharge mouth directed toward the adjacent corner of opening I and adapted to deliver through said opening a current of spray substantially filling the opening. The fluid carrying conduit 9 is connected with a suitable source of non-inflammable fluid under normal or preferably high pressure and is provided with the customary manual or automatically operated control valve as described hereinafter by way of example in connection withthe embodiment of Fig. 3. From an inspection of Fig. 2, it will be evident that the apparatus' herein described in no way obstructs or interferes with the conveyor line 4 or articles 8.

Referring to Fig. 3, the roof 5 over fire area A is provided with a vent housing [3 and a pivoted vent closure I4 adapted to swing outwardly and downwardly by force of gravity to form a vent. A line [5, preferably of wire, is secured at one end It to the vent closure and is trained over a series of pulleys "along the inner face of the roof,

through opening I and along the inner face of the roof within fire-threatened area B. The other line end [8 is secured to a chain l9 which, in, turn, is secured to a depending weight 20 adapted to hold the vent closure normally closed. A normally closedquick-opening valve 2! is connected in conduit 9 and has a pivoted handle 22 secured to the line end l8 by an extension of chain I9 as shown in Fig. 3.

A plurality of fusible links 23 spaced along,

line l5within fire area A are adapted, when subjected. to. the heat of a fire, to separate, thereby to. part the line [5 permitting the vent closure to open and permitting the weight to drop by force of gravity, pulling the valve handle 22 downwardly to open the valve and to supply the nozzle with fluid.

From the foregoing it will be evident that not only is a fire, seeking to advance through the opening, opposed by a current of non-inflammable spray but, by delivering the spray in the a counter-draft through the wall opening by per-X vi mitting the excessive pressure, caused by the natural expansion of heated air, to escape, and by creating a natural draft or stack efiect, and

thereby helps the nozzle means to prevent the spread of fire through the opening.

It will be understood that-an adequate source of noninfiammable fluid under normal or preferably high pressure is provided to supply the conduits 9 and ID and nozzles l i when the need comes for employing the apparatus, and it will be further understood that the apparatus maybe put into action either manually or automatically by common commercial fire detection and control devices, said fire detection devices being preferably disposed within the fire area A, as illustrated by way of example in Fig. 3.

It should be understood that the present dis closure is for the purpose of illustration only and that this invention includes all modifications andequivalents which fall within the scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. Apparatus for preventing the spread of fire from a room comprising a wall having a passageway through which articles may be conveyed in and out of the room, the axis of the passageway extending transversely of the wall, nozzle means oifset from said axis so as not to obstruct passage of articles through the passageway and located outside the room a substantial distance in advance of the end of said passageway, said nozzle means being directed toward the passageway to produce a current of spray which substantially fills the cross-sectionalarea of the passageway.

and tends to create'a draft through the passageway thereby to counter any tendency of a fire in said room to produce a counterdraft throughthe passageway, and means for supp-lying fiuid to said nozzle means, said nozzle means comprising a plurality of nozzles distributed around the axis of the passageway.

2. Apparatus for preventing the spread of fire and tends to create a draft through the passageway thereby to counter any tendency of a fire in said room to produce a counterdraft through the passageway, and. means for supplying fluid to said nozzle means, said nozzle means comprising a plurality of nozzles distributed around the axis of the passageway, the angle between the axis of each nozzle discharge and the plane of the wall being at least 30.

3. Apparatus for preventing the spread of fire from a room comprising a wall having a rectangular passageway through which articles may be conveyed in and out of the room, the axis of the passageway extending transversely of the ,Wall, nozzle means offset from said axis so as not to obstruct passage of articles through the passageway and located outside the room a substantial distance in advance of the end of said passageway, said nozzle means being directed toward the passageway to produce through the passageway a current of spray which substantially fills the cross-sectional area of the passagewa and tends to create a draft through the passageway thereby to counter any tendency of a fire in said room to produce a counterdraft through the passageway, and means for supplying fiuid to said nozzle means, said nozzle means comprising a plurality of nozzles distributed around the axis of the: passageway with one nozzle opposite each corner of the passageway.

4. Apparatus for preventing the spread of fire from a room comprising a wall having a passageway through which articles may be conveyed'in' and out of the room, the axis of the passageway extending transversely of the wall, a normally closed vent in the room, nozzle means ofiset from said axis so as not to obstruct passage of articles through the passageway and located outside the room a substantial distance in advance of the end of said passageway, said nozzle means being directed toward the passageway to produce through" the passageway a current of spray which substan' tially fills the cross-sectional area of the passageway and tends to create a draft through the'passageway thereby to counter any tendency of a fire in said room to produce a counterdraft through the passageway, said nozzle means comprising a plurality of nozzles distributed around the axis of the passageway, piping for supplying fluid to said nozzles having a normally closed quick-opening valve, and heat responsive means in the room operative to open said valve and vent, the vent reducingthe tendency of the fire to produce said counterdraft thereby to assist the nozzle means in preventing the Spread of'fire;

through the passageway.

NORMAN J THOMPSON.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Geertz I J m le-27, 1944* 

